Two approaches to the extension problem for arbitrary weights over finite module alphabets (Q2043867)

The MacWilliams equivalence theorem states that every Hamming weight isometry \(\varphi \colon C \to D\) of linear codes \(C, D \le F^n\) over a field~\(F\) can be extended to a monomial transformation of the ambient space~\(F^n\). The paper at hand consolidates and extends several works that have generalized this fundamental result to arbitrary weights over ring or module alphabets. Let~\(R\) be a finite unital ring and let~\(A\) be a finite left \(R\)-module. A weight is any function \(w \colon A \to \mathbb C\) satisfying \(w(0) = 0\), which is extended additively on the space~\(A^n\). The matrix approach to the extension problem considers a matrix \(W := \big( w(r a) \big)\) associated to a weight~\(w\), with rows~\([r]\) and columns~\([a]\) indexed by the nonzero orbits of its left and right symmetry groups acting on the ring~\(R\) and the module~\(A\), respectively. Using the symmetrized weight composition, it is shown that if~\(A\) has a cyclic socle and~\(W\) has trivial right nullspace, then the weight~\(w\) has the extension property. The monoid algebra approach deals with the complex monoid algebra~\(\mathcal R\) for the multiplicative reduct of the ring~\(R\), and considers a right \(\mathcal R\)-module structure on the vector space~\(\mathcal F(A)\) of all functions \(A \to \mathbb C\). It is shown that~\(\mathcal F\) is a contravariant functor that commutes with duality, i.e., \(\mathcal F(A)^* \cong \mathcal F(\widehat A)\) as \(\mathcal R\)-modules. Moreover, the extension property of a weight~\(w\) is guaranteed by surjectivity of a reduced version of its associated map \(w \colon \mathcal R \to \mathcal F(A)\), \(\alpha \mapsto w \alpha\), which has the matrix representation~\(W\). These two approaches, which have appeared in the literature, are therefore closely related. The paper contains several elaborate special cases and examples. In particular, a commutative chain ring \(A := R\) is considered. Using the characters of its unit group, there are tailor-made bases for both~\(\mathcal R\) and~\(\mathcal F(R)\) so that elements \(\alpha \in \mathcal R\) and weights \(w \colon \mathcal R \to \mathcal F(R)\) are represented by block-diagonal matrices in upper-triangular form. This gives a criterion for the extension property in terms of nonzero diagonal elements. Also, as a noncommutative example the ring~\(R\) of \(2 \times 2\) upper-triangular matrices over~\(\mathbb F_2\) is considered with its character module \(A := \widehat R\). Matrix representations of \(w \colon \mathcal R \to \mathcal F(A)\) are developed and the converse direction is discussed: if~\(w\) is not surjective, then there are counterexamples to the extension property.